Vitesse

1933 · 175841 — Beijing: Kwang Yuen Press 1933. First edition first printing presentation copy inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper "To Cobbles and Dulcie with best wishes for a Happy Xmas from Charles. 1933 Peking" opposite a gelatin silver photograph of the author. The recipients were Charles and Dulcie Hope Danby 1879-1958; 1889-1981. Hope Danby was a prolific writer on Chinese history and archaeology. She was a friend of the controversial scholar-collector Edmund Backhouse and wrote his entry for the Dictionary of National Biography. Her husband worked as an insurance agent. Based like the Danbys in Beijing the author 1884-1972 was the city's most senior customs service official. He entered the service in 1903 at the junior level of Fourth Assistant. On his retirement in 1935 he had served for 13 years at the senior grades of deputy commissioner and then acting commissioner. In 1969 he published his autobiographical Chinese Tribute which recounts his colourful experiences of working for the service. Alongside his professional work Williams had a scholarly interest in Chinese history and culture. He is most well-known for Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art Motives: An Alphabetical Compendium of Antique Legends and Beliefs as Reflected in the Manners and Customs of the Chinese 1931. This manual describes the country's animal agricultural textile and mineral exports and is also intended to assist scholarly research of flora and fauna. Octavo. Half-tone frontispiece showing Shanghai customs house. Original red cloth spine lettered in gilt in English and Chinese front cover panelled and lettered in English and Chinese in blind. Spine sunned staining on rear board a few leaves dog-eared: a very good copy. hardcover